diff --git a/playground/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/indels/Matrix.java b/playground/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/indels/Matrix.java
new file mode 100755
index 000000000..aeca77dec
--- /dev/null
+++ b/playground/java/src/org/broadinstitute/sting/indels/Matrix.java
@@ -0,0 +1,22 @@
+package org.broadinstitute.sting.indels;
+
+public class Matrix<T> {
+	private int size;
+	private Object [][] data;
+	
+	public Matrix(int n) {
+		size = n;
+		data = new Object[n][n];
+	}
+	
+	@SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
+	public T get(int i, int j) {
+		assert (i<size) && (j < size) : "Matrix index is out of bounds"; 
+		return (T) data[i][j]; 
+	}
+
+	public void set(int i, int j, T value) {
+		assert (i<size) && (j < size) : "Matrix index is out of bounds"; 
+		data[i][j] = value;
+	}
+}